The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, on Wednesday, swore in seven members of the Edo State House of Assembly Service Commission, charging them to support the government’s efforts at improving the lives of the people and ensuring economic prosperity for the state.
The chairman of the committee is Mr. Shaka Momodu, while Raphael Okhani, Osunbor Osadebamwen, Ehis Onburekhalen, Aruya Tunji, Iyiekhuemhen Raphael and Matthew Ikhide are members.
Obaseki during the swearing-in at the Government House, Benin City, said his administration has introduced technology in the civil service, as part of efforts to deliver quality and efficient services to Edo people.
According to him, “Having you on board at this critical time in our transformation of all the arms of government, we have the confidence in you to help us undertake these reforms. As you can see, on the part of the executive, we have been working very hard to reform the way the executive arm of government works.
“There is a lot of work going on in our public and civil service. We are introducing technology as a key driver for change so that we can deliver better and quality services to our people. We are also supporting such reforms in our judiciary; we are working with the judiciary authorities to introduce technology into our courts.”
Obaseki continued: “We have trained quite a number of court stenographers; we will continue to work with the judiciary officers to deliver on their mandate. We believe that the same must happen with the legislature.
“We expect that as a new house of assembly service commission, you must now look seriously at the terms and conditions of members of that commission and ensure that they are in line with the rest of the reforms we’ve seen in other arms of government.
“Training and capacity building is very critical and crucial; we don’t want the house of assembly to feel that they are not a part of our ongoing reforms. In fact, they should champion our reforms because we have only one house of assembly and they have fewer numbers of staff in relation to other arms of government.”
“I have no doubt in my mind that you have what it takes and we have also worked together through the years,” he noted.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the committee, Momodu, thanked the governor for the confidence reposed in them, promising not to disappoint the government and people of Edo State.
Momodu further pledged to sustain collaboration with the government towards the realization of the Making Edo Great Again (MEGA) Agenda.